This week in MMO crowdfunding, The Exiled was released to the wilds of Steam early access. Formerly called Das Tal, the buy-to-play indie sandbox attempted to raise funds through Kickstarter back in 2015 but pulled in only €33,000 of its €50,000 goal and resorted to website preorders instead, forging ahead to now. Reviews on Steam so far are mixed; once you subtract the confused trial players who seem surprised to see PvP in a PvP sandbox, the main complaints revolve around crafting grind and lag.
Meanwhile, Ship of Heroes teased its Kickstarter, Shroud of the Avatar released R39, Albion Online settled on a July release, Life is Feudal rolled out its second beta, Pantheon brought on more new employees (thanks, Reht!), Dual Universe planned a GDC community meetup, Star Citizen explored the Magnus system and released a new concept ship, HEX got a new publisher, and Elite: Dangerous did science and turned… beige.
Closer to home, games critic and veritable prince of Patreon Jim Sterling scored a victory for games journalism in the courts as a judge dismissed with prejudice a game developer’s libel lawsuit against him. (Thanks to everyone who tipped this our way!)
Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding over the last few weeks and the regular roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’ve got our eye on.
Elite’s “beigification”
Recent MMO crowdfunding news
Star Citizen promotes Spectrum, begins Anvil Hurricane ship sale - Star Citizen's weekly Around the Verse treks to the Los Angeles studio for a check-in, but the real meat is the behind-the-scenes look at Spectrum, the communication platform the studio…
Camelot Unchained completes first pass on working armor, shields, and weapons - Beta 1 is mentioned 14 times in Camelot Unchained's latest update. I'm not saying it means something, but I'm sure feeling like we're making some headway to it! City State's…
Crowfall shows off the design of the Fort architectural set - The next big development milestone for Crowfall is work being done on the game's Eternal Kingdoms, a place for players to build a spot of refuge through the many different…
Ship of Heroes plans April Kickstarter, alpha to run into next year - Are you watching the Ship of Heroes Kickstarter countdown? Have you set it to your main tab when you boot up your browser? Our eagle-eyed tipsters noticed the countdown timer…
Shroud of the Avatar’s latest update is off the rails - If you assumed that Shroud of the Avatar's February update was going to be on the small size, thanks to a shorter month, then you're right there with the devs.…
City of Titans shows off the creations of the Builder - Making a city is hard work. This is true even if you're working on City of Titans and your main focus is upon making a city which is sufficiently plausible…
Chronicles of Elyria shores up PAX East demo, hires WoW cinematic artist - The clock is ticking down to PAX East on March 10th, and the Chronicles of Elyria team is whipping itself up into a frenzy to get everything prepared for its…
Enter to win a Seeker Pack for The Exiled’s early access launch today - In honor of the early access launch of The Exiled on Steam today, Fairytale Distillery has granted us some lovely keys to raffle to our readers! The game -- which you…
Albion Online is launching on July 17 - Huge news for the Albion Online community today, as Sandbox Interactive announced that the fantasy sandbox will be launching this summer on July 17th. At that time, the studio said,…
Here’s how Albion Online is rebooting its PvP Outland zones - Sandbox Interactive Game Director Robin Henkys has another lengthy Albion Online dev recap today, this one all about the Outlands, one of the key pieces of content being rethought and…
Life is Feudal welcomes testers to its second closed beta - Yesterday, Life is Feudal kicked off its second closed beta test for the MMO version of the game. The test is somewhat short and will last about two weeks. All…
Ship of Heroes posts a Kickstarter countdown on its main page - Whenever we here bring news about a new indie title, there's always at least one person asking in the comments about when the Kickstarter is starting. It's not even cynical…
Guardians of Ember unlocks Act 4, raises level cap, and goes on sale - [AL:GOE]Runewaker's hack-and-slash MMOARPG is a bit bigger, a bit older, and a bit wiser, thanks to a hefty update to Guardians of Ember's early access client. Today, Guardians of Embers…
Ashes of Creation on dungeon finders, soloing, player shops, and guild ethics - MOP tipster Joel let us know about an absolute trove of info flowing in the Ashes of Creation Discord channel thanks to the candor of Creative Director Steven Sharif. Sharif…
Pantheon expands FAQ, hires on web developers - Do you have burning questions about Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen or simply want to get pumped up about the game? Thanks to a newly super-sized FAQ, either desire can…
Shroud of the Avatar previews clockwork critters and virtue shrine system - Hope you like clockwork critters because Shroud of the Avatar is about to get a slew of them. The game's latest newsletter shows off such beasties as the clockwork attack…
Check out Grim Dawn’s new cosmetic system - Online ARPG Grim Dawn has a new NPC on the way this year that'll change how players interact with gear, specifically cosmetic gear: The Illusionist NPC. "For a modest fee,…
Idea Fabrik will have The Repopulation back online in the next few weeks - Idea Fabrik is forging onward in its plan to re-start The Repopulation game servers, forum posts from the last couple of weeks suggest. The company told fans that it's been…
City of Titans
Campaigns and crowdfunded MMOs we’re watching
3001SQ (Société des Mondes Virtuels) – Kickstarter unsuccessful. Work continues.
AdventureQuest 3D (Artix Entertainment) – Raised 368k; beta began Oct 2016.
Antraxx (Team Antraxx) – Kickstarter canceled.
Ascent: The Space Game (Fluffy Kitten Studios) – Successful KS. Fully launched 2016.
Camelot Unchained (City State) – Kickstarter successful; open donations/packages.
Caribbean Conquest (Invenio) – First KS canceled, second ends March 7.
Contested Space (Zon)
Crowfall (ArtCraft) – Kickstarter win, open packages, Indiegogo crowdfunding ongoing.
Chronicles of Elyria (Soulbound) – Kickstarter successful, open packages.
Citadel of Sorcery (MMO Magic, Inc.) –Â Open donations.
City of Titans (Missing Worlds Media) – Successful KS; launch planned for fall 2018.
Descent Underground (Descendent Studios) – Successful KS.
Divergence Online (Stained Glass Llama)Â –Â Three campaigns; now in KS early access.
Dogma: Eternal Night (Prelude Games Factory): Kickstarter over, donor preorder packs.
Dragon of Legends (Thrive Games) – Successful Kickstarter.
Dual Universe (Novaquark) – Kickstarter funded, now has donor platform.
Eco (Strange Loop Games) – Funded, now in alpha.
Edengrad (Huckleberry Games) – Kickstarter funded; now in pre-alpha.
Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments) – Funded and launched.
Empyrion Online (Eleon) – Kickstarter canceled; launched on Steam early access.
Epic Space (EpicSpace.net)
Ever, Jane (3 Turn Productions) – Now in open beta.
Gloria Victis (Black Eye Games) – Open donations, no end date; in early access.
Greed Monger (Greed Monger) – Abandoned, multiple times now.
Grim Dawn (Crate Entertainment) – Funded and launched.
Guns of Icarus (Muse) – Funded and launched.
Hero’s Song (Pixelmage) –Â KS canceled; Indiegogo. Canceled w/ refunds.
Infinity: Battlescape (I-Novae Studios)
HEX (HEX Entertainment) –Â Funded and launched.
Life is Feudal (Bitbox): Indiegogo ended. Currently in beta.
LUX (Chimera) – Kickstarter canceled.
Maestros of the Anthymn (String Theory) – Kickstarter canceled.
Mekria (Infinity Online Studios) – Kickstarter canceled.
Midair (Archetype Studios) – Kickstarter successful.
Nebula Online (Mizar Games) Kickstarter canceled; launched in November.
Neo’s Land (NeoJac Entertainment) –Â Open donations, no end date.
Novus AEterno (Taitale Studios)
Overpower (Hydrant Games) –Â Kickstarter unfunded; heading to early access.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen (Visionary Realms) –Â Open donations, no end date.
Pathfinder Online (GoblinWorks) – Doom, mostly.
Planet Nomads (Craneballs) – Successful Kickstarter.
Pixel Starships (SavySoda)
Project Gorgon (Elder Game) – Kickstarted in three tries + Indiegogo. In alpha.
Pumpkin Online (Monique) – Downgrading from MMORPG.
The Exiled (Fairytale Distillery) – fka Das Tal; 2015Â KSÂ unsuccesful. In Steam early access.
The Realm: Reawakened (Stephen Nichols) – Ongoing GoFundMe.
The Repopulation (Idea Fabrik) –Â Kickstarted twice by A&B. Relaunch Q1 2017.
ROKH (Darewise) – Kickstarter canceled; early access delayed to 2017.
RUiN (Tarhead Studio) – Kickstarter ends March 9.
The Stomping Land (Alex Fundora) – Abandoned.
Sacrament (Ferocity Unbound) – Kickstarter failed; Patreon ongoing.
Shadow’s Kiss (Clockwork Throne) – Ongoing Patreon.
Shards Online (Citadel Studios) – Kickstarted. Currently in alpha.
Shroud of the Avatar (Portalarium) – Successful KS. Soft launch July 2016.
Star Citizen (Cloud Imperium) – Ongoing donations/packages.
TUG (Nerd Kingdom) – In middle of year-long revamp after funding surge.
Vigor Roads (NeuronHaze) – Kickstarter unsuccessful; early access planned for 2017.
